Part 1

A profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of Bees

Transcriber's note:

The final four chapters of the second Treatise, "Certaine husbandly coniectures of dearth and plentie for euer," are absent. No known copy of this edition is complete. Entries in the Table of Contents referring to them have been removed.

A profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of _Bees, with the maruellous nature_, propertie, and gouernemente of them: and the necessarie vses both of their Honie and waxe, seruing diuersly, as well in inward as outward causes: gathered out of the best writers.

To which is annexed a proper Treatise, intituled: Certaine husbandly coniectures of dearth and plentie for euer, and other matters also méete for Husbandmen to knowe. &c.

By _THOMAS HYLL_ Londoner.

_Imprinted at London, by_ Henrie Bynneman.

_ANNO_. 1579.

The Authors out of the which this Treatise is gathered.

_C. Plinius._ _Aristotle._ _Albertus._ _M. Cato._ _Iunius Columella._ _M. Varro._ _Palladius Rutilius._ _Theophrastus._ _Guilhelmus de Conchis._ _Galen._ _Paule Aegineta._ _Cornelius Agrippa._ _Hieronimus Cardanus._ And sundrie others.

To the worshipfull maister M. Gentleman, Thomas Hill wisheth all health and felicitie.

As it hath beene, and is yet (worshipfull Sir) a trade commonly vsed among most men, to choose out from a greate number, some one, vnder whose name and title they may publishe their workes: Euen so I (following the steps of the learned, though in all other poyntes most inferiour) hauing finished this little treatise of Bees, and casting with my selfe to whome I mighte presente it, founde my selfe much bounden vnto your worship, both for your gentlenesse which I haue of late tasted, and also for youre friendship which I finde alwayes readie towards me. And therefore hauing none other wayes to recompence the least parte of youre curtesie and gentlenesse, thought it best to gratifie youre worship with such a simple gifte as mine abilitie will suffer me to bestow on such a friend. And although Sir this Treatise is farre dissonant from youre studyes, yet considering your earnest desire to knowledge and learning, and agayne pondering the pleasantnesse of the matter, thoughte this might be made a recreation for your grauer studyes. For when your mind shall bee searching for profound reasons, and oppressed with deepe cogitations, then taking and reading this little Pamphlet, it will bring a forgetfulnesse vnto your former weerynesse, and cause a newe delighte vnto your mind: For heerein may you see, first the maruellous gouernement of the Bees, through the onely instincte of nature, as in theyr obedience to their King, and other officers, in punishing the ydle loyterers, in cherishing the true labourers in theyr manner of fighting, with suche like a greate many, as it is wonderfull to reade, and almost vncredible to beleeue: secondly, the liuely effectes and commodities that arise of theyr Honie and Waxe. And lastly, howe profitable they are for common wealth, and howe necessarie for mans vse, I mighte heerespeake muche in the prayse of the Bee, which all I will omitte, seeyng onely myne intente is to shewe my selfe myndfull of your good turnes and benefites, desiring you to take this in good parte, whyche proceedeth from a well willing minde. And I am sorie that at this presente I had none other matter more worthy to haue gratified your worship withall: but that whiche wanteth in power, aboundeth in good will. Thus troubling your worship no longer, I commit you to the keeping of the Almightie, praying him to increase in you all vertue and godlynesse, and to grant you the long yeares of Nestor.

_Yours most bounden Thomas Hill._

The Preface into the instruction of Bees.

Although (gentle Reader) I haue not given thee anye labour of mine owne, but rather haue collected the sayings and writings of manye aunciente authours, yet I trust they shall be well accepted of thee without offence. For as he that setteth forth vnto the view & reading of all men such knowledge, as by his long study & experience he hath gotten, is worthy to haue his due reward of commendation: euen so he is not to be discommended, who painfully reuoluing the bookes and volumes of many and diuers ancient writers, reduceth them into one little Treatise, for the commoditie and profyte of the simple and vnlearned sorte, for whose onely sakes I haue trauelled in the translation of this worthy matter, touching the right vsage and handling of Bees: a thing very rare, and seldome seene in the Englishe tongue, and yet verie profitable for a common wealth, and commonlye vsed among the poore husbandmen, though not in euery poynt as they ought to be, yet according to theyr knowledge and experience. But I, to the intente that a further learning mighte be added to their skill, haue so trauelled therein, that I trust their knowledge shal be increased, & such as haue no knowledge at all, may be instructed without any other teaching. I haue ioyned this little Treatise vnto my booke of Gardening, for that most men do ioyne them both togither, as when they place their Bees in their Gardens, whereas they may with lesse paine and easilier, gather of the sweete smelling flowers, their Honie, and Waxe. And for all these my paynes gentle Reader, I craue nought else of thee, but to giue me that which of dutie in a maner I ought to haue, for if thou doest receyue any commoditie or fruite eyther by this, or by my other Treatise hereto annexed, whiche hathe to name the Husbandly coniectures, with sundry rules of Phisicke, then giue me the reward of thy good report, and friendly accepting of these two Treatises, and if not, yet accept mine endeuours in good part, which be meant to do thee good. And thus leauing (gentle reader) to trouble thee farther, I commit thee to God, who giue thee the furtherance of knowledge, both in these and all other needefull artes.

(∵)

A necessarie Table setting forth the contents of these two Treatises.

_These treated of in the first Treatise._

Why Bees are named to be crested or parted Cap.j. betweene, or as it were ringed or rather pleighted: what worke the swarme new gathered in the Hiue firste taketh in hande: and whether they may liue after their stings be gone.

Who first taught the preparation and increasing of cap.ij. Bees, and found out the vse of honie.

How Bees do naturally ingender. cap.iij.

Of the vnperfit Bees, which men properly name cap.iiij. drone Bees.

Whether the Bees draw breath, or haue any bloud in cap.v. them.

Of the great vtilitie and profit of the Bees vnto cap.vj. mans vse.

Of the care and diligence of the Bees. cap.vij.

Of the maruellous gouernement of the King of honie cap.viij. Bees, and of the obedience which they vse to hym.

What kind of Bees be best, and rather to be cap.ix. chosen.

Where the Hiues of Bees ought especially to be cap.x. placed.

What things Bees do chiefly abhorre, and greatly cap.xj. hate.

By what signes men may knowe when the honie Bees cap.xij. are diseased, and how men may cure them.

What maner of person the keper of the Bees ought cap.xiij. to be.

By what meanes the swarme come forth, may be cap.xiiij. preserued from flying away.

Of the Bees new settled in a swarme togither, and cap.xv. taken and recouered againe.

Which are the best and fittest hyues for the honie cap.xvj. Bees.

Of the cleanlinesse and sweetenesse of the keeper cap.xvij. of Bees, and howe hiues ought to be fenced about, and prepared within.

How Bees lacking honie may be fed in that present cap.xviij. neede.

How the dead Bees may be restored to life againe. cap.xix.

Of the battell that Bees sometime haue within cap.xx. themselues.

How Bees lost, may be recouered and found againe. cap.xxj.

That the Bees sting no person comming neere to cap.xxij. their hiues.

When and how the hiues ought to be gelded. cap.xxiij.

What the honie is, and how from the hiues the same cap.xxiiij. may be prepared to vse.

Which honie is accounted best. cap.xxv.

Of the venomous honie, and of the wonderful hony cap.xxvj. of Creta.

Of the miraculous worthinesse of honie. cap.xxvij.

How profitable the vse of honie is in medicine. cap.xxviij.

Of the drinke of hony whiche they call the Mulse cap.xxix. water, or sweete water of the Romaines.

Of the drinke _Oenomel_, which is made of pure cap.xxx. wine & hony.

Of the singular water of hony gotten by order of cap.xxxj. distillation.

Another maner of distilling the hony more at large cap.xxxij. taught.

The maner of distilling a water of hony named the cap.xxxiij. Quintessence.

The maner of drawing and making waxe of the cap.xxxiiij. combes.

What waxe is best allowed, &c. cap.xxxv.

Of the great commoditie and benefite of waxe in cap.xxxvj. medicines.

Of that whiche is a stay of the combes, and made cap.xxxvij. for a defence of Bees.

How to make waxe white. cap.xxxviij.

How to make red waxe. cap.xxxix.

How to draw a profitable oyle out of waxe for cap.xl. sundry vses.

Another way of drawing the oyle of waxe most cap.xlj. noble, and dothe maruellously help the cold goute, the sciaticke, the swelling of the legges, and all other griefes of a colde cause.

_These described in the other Treatise._

Certaine Husbandly coniectures of dearth & plenty cap.j. for euer.

An euerlasting Prognostication of the state and cap.ij. condition of euery yeare, by the only calends of Ianuary, written by the ancient & learned _Leopol. Aust._ & other for the commodity of the wise husbandmen.

How to foreknow the state of the yeare by the only cap.iij. rising of the dog starre, out of the husbandrie of _Diophanes_.

Other profitabl instructions, right necessary for cap.iiij. husbandmen to know.

¶ The firste Treatise setteth foorthe the _strange gouernment, propertie, and benifite_ of the Bees, with the commoditie of their Hony and Waxe, whiche serue vnto many good vses, as well _in outward as inwarde causes applied, gathered out of_ Plinie, Albertus, Varro, Columella, Palladius, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Cardanus, Guilielmus de Conchis, Agrippa, and diuers other singular Authours.

¶ Why Bees are named to be creasted or parted betweene, or as it were ringed, or rather pleighted. What work the swarme newe gathered in the Hiue, first taketh in hande, and whether they maye liue after their stings bee gone. Cap.first.

_Plinie_ nameth Bées Cleft beasts, bicause of the diuision or parting betwéene of the head & shoulders: and _Aristotle_ nameth them plighted or ringed, in that their bodies are diuided with plightes and rings. And most men know, that the Bées haue neyther sinews, bones, fleshe, gristle, backe-bone, nor fat, but are only created of a certaine mixture, being a meane betwéen these, and hauing a very few intrailes. And againe, no man néedeth to doubte, but that the Bées be a kinde of beasts, greatly to be set by for mans vse, & for mans prouision, are nourished of the aire, passing throughe the diuided places, which they by great diligence and care preserue from being stopped, for as soone as they be stopped, they shortly after die, like as the same we may learne, when anye happeneth to fall or light into Oyle, which straight way after die, throughe the Oyle stopping then their powers. They haue and fly with foure wings, that they maye the better carrye in their bellies the stings of reuengement. For when two of them striue togither in flight, then do they hold and kéep their stings in their mouths by a gréedy desire, or for eagernesse sake. Now after the seauen starres named _Vergiliæ_, be once risen in sight aboue our horizon, then do they hyde them in their proper holes, so that they go seldome after abroade, vntill the Beanes doe bud, and if they happen to beginne at any tyme to flye abroade when as a fayre daye moueth them forwarde, then slacke they no suche dayes afterwarde, but occupy themselues. And firste they prepare and make their combes, which they fashion into apt houses, or rather celles of waxe, after this they haue yong, and then beginne they to gather hony. They liue also the longer by hauing their stings, for that once gone, or taken away, they dye forthwith through the lacke of their intrailes, whiche they lose togither with their stings.

¶ Who first taught the preparation and increasing of Bees, and founde oute the vse of Honny. Cap.ij.

The reporte goeth, that one _Aristomachus_ first founde out and taught the increasing of Bées, whome _Plinie_ writeth to be so earnest in the same, that setting apart al other affayres, he only studied night & day how he might best intreate and vse Bées, according to their kinde. But others ascribe this inuention to one _Thassius_, who (as they saye) deserued no lesse commendation, both for his diligence and skill among Bées: but this he specially followed in the fielde, and that farre from the Towne. And of this the common people (as by a nickname) no more named him _Thassius_, but _Agrius_, for his wilde or rather straunge life, whiche he then led in the fielde, Whome _Plinie_ also affyrmeth to haue written a Booke of the increasing and multiplying of Bées. And _Columella_ ascribeth this inuention, to the inhabitaunts of the hill (named _Hymetus_) being in the Countrey of _Attica_, for there (saieth he,) was one _Ericthonius_, who taught (as men write) the true and perfect ordering of them. _Plinie_ againe ascribeth the inuention of Hony to one _Aristeus_ a man of _Athens_. _Diodorus Siculus_ in the sixte Booke of hys workes, writeth, that _Curetes_, a people of _Creta_, did firste finde out the Hony, _Macrobius_ ascribeth the same to one _Saturnus_. Others to the _Thessalians_. And many to _Melissus_, an auntient King of _Creta_, others to _Nassus Liber Pater_, thus writing, that _Liber_ hath obtayned the renowne for finding out of Honnye.

¶ How Bees do naturally engender. Cap.iij.

Firste the Bées procéede of Bées, by the actuall doing togyther, after whiche they lay egges, sitting vppon them, as the Hens do on their egs. And when they haue sit on them for the space of .xlv. daies, then do they hatch their yong ones, whiche yong (at the first) come forth, much like to white Worms, except the King, who onely as he is hatched, hath wings. At the firste time, one of them hatcheth fiue young togither, the nexte time fewer, and so fewer & fewer, vntill she commeth to one at a time, bicause the abundaunce whiche is in them, dothe in the continuaunce of time weaken. In the time of their sitting they make muche noise to gette them heate withall. And aboute the sides of the combes, be sometimes greater Bées bred, which men for their sound & noise do properly name Trumpeters, and they also haue whole hornes, of which come the bastarde Bées. There be also other Bées bigger in body, muche-like to the Kings, but they be ydle, and haue no sting, bicause of the heauinesse of their body. All which kindes, _Guilielmus de Conchis_ didde obserue in the Hyues of a certaine Consull of Rome, whiche properly were made of verye thinne and cleare horne. Some write, that Bées are also engendred and bredde monstrously, and that contrary to Nature, without the mutuall coniunction, if that a whole calfe be buried in the earth, and there lye rotting whiles the wind blow out of the Weste, for by that meanes, as writeth _Maro_, doth the same bréede Bées. And not vnlike to this doeth _Cornelius Agrippa_ in his firste Booke _de Occulta Philosophia_, and _Hiero. Cardanus_ in hys ninth booke of Subtilties write, that of a rotten horse do waspes procéede: of an Asse, Humble bées: of a Mule, hornettes: of the haire of a woman (hauing then hir motherly courses) Serpents: and of Creuisses (the shelles plucked off,) Scorpions.

¶ Of the vnperfect Bees, which men properly name Drone Bees. Cap.iiij.

The Drone Bées (as writeth _Plinie_) are vnperfect Bées, without sting, and the least weary, yet be they verye heauy of body, and slow in doing their businesse. They also doe the seruices and trauells of the true Bées, although the right and perfect Bées doe rule and gouerne them, yea and put them formost in their laboures, so that if they happen to be slow in their doings, then doe the right Bées punish them without pitie. Also these doe helpe the right Bées, so well in their workes as in their bréeding, for that the multitude of them, cause the more heat and warmeth togither. And howe muche the greater the multitude of them shall be, and so muche more will the increase come of the swarme. When the hony waxeth ripe, then are the Drone Bées driuen forth, and the kinde also of these are onely séene abroade in the Spring time.

¶ Whether the Bees drawe breath, or haue any bloud in them. Cap.v.

Now some affyrme, that the clouen beasts draw no breth, in that they haue not the fan of the hart, which is the lights or lungs, for as they write, nothing without them can breath. But _Aristotle_ writeth, that the same is possible among Bées, hauing the sting (although they haue no bladder) to breath by their sting. And the Bées haue no bloude, bicause they haue neither hart nor lungs: yet _Plinie_ affirmeth, that nothing done by nature may be thought or iudged incredible: for the same is fully persuaded in wise men, that the Bées haue a certain liuely moisture, like as the Cuttle in the Sea, which hath a kinde of ynke in it, and is as the iuyce of it, with the whiche the Diers (at this day) do make their Purple colour.

¶ Of the great vtilitie and profite of the Bees vnto mans vse. Cap.vj.

A great profite ariseth by Bées, if they be set in a conuenient and fit place, and that both carefully & wisely guided, as _Plinie_ writeth in his xj. booke, where he willeth, that of al other clouen beastes, the Bées to bee principallye cherished, bicause to mans vse they gather a subtile and wholsome iuyce, beyng very swéete, and besides they frame by a maruelous skill and cunning, theyr cotages of waxe vnto mans vse, that no workman (be he neuer so ingenious) can do the like. The profite also comming by them in a short time, if the weather hindereth not, is so greate, that they increase in a shorte time into manye swarmes, which swarmes againe increase others, so that the firste swarmes increased, they especially thrust forth from them in the moneth of May, or Iune, by whych meanes they cause a great increase of them. As _Varro_ affirmeth the same of two head Gentlemen in Spaine, which only by the means of their Bées, gayned yerely ten thousand pound (but I rather thinke fiue thousand pounde, which also is very muche) yet here is to be noted, that the swarmes of syxe yeares olde, doe seldome encrease after other swarmes of themselues, although in waxe they giue a great yéelde and gayne to the owners.

¶ Of the great care and diligence of the Bees. Cap.vij.

First certain Bées as the skilfull practisers do write, stand in the day time at the mouthes of the Hyues, diligently loking to their businesse, like warders placed at the gates of a Castel, that they maye so defend in safegarde whom they will within. In the night time they setle themselues to rest vnto the morning, vntil one of them by humming twice or thrice about, doeth so styrre them forward to flye out after the other. For if they happen to kéepe themselues in the morning within the Hyues, then doth the same declare a tempest to insue that daye. But being a cleare and fayre morning, then do they flye forth and returne againe to their Hiues, laden with the substaunce of the floures on their legges, for their businesse, and this especiallye doe the yonger Bées, so that the other Bées besides do eyther carrye the water in their bils, or on the soft mossinesse of the whole bodie. The elder Bées remayning still within, do also folow their businesse, as in diligently laying vp, and aptly dressing the same, as they wold dispose their kindely foode. Such as be sluggish & not labouring they diligently note, which for their sluggishnes, they bitterly punish to death.

And flying abroade in a mightye winde, they maruelouslye stay and guyde themselues, by waying their bodyes down with little stones, caryed in their legges. They at the euening comming to rest, do make lesse and lesse noyse in the hyue, vntill one of them flyeth about, which by a like order as he moued them forewarde in the morning, euen so by the same noyse and humming doth he procure them to take their rest, and to be all silent within the hiue. If the Bées happen to scatter in their flying abroade, then do they call and gather them togither into a swarme, by the helpe of making a shrill sounde, eyther with pan or bason, or other loude cymball. They also followe their king whether soeuer he taketh his flight, who beyng wearie, and not further able to flie, they carrye hym betwéene them.

Wherfore that the king may not often attempte forth with the swarme, for feare of loosing them, the skilful practisers wil, the wings of the kings be broken off. Whiche féeling himselfe thus depriued of his wings, will not after attempt to flye forth of his boundes, but remayning still within, will so cause the other Bées to abide continually with him, not leauing the Hiue at any time after. They also haue counsels priuily and rulers among them.